


Holiday joy

by Poteto



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Natsume Yuujinchou Secret Santa, Youkais don't quite know what Christmas is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 01:41:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9050113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poteto/pseuds/Poteto
Summary: Humans’ lives are short and filled with meaningless celebrations. Hiiragi wanted Natori to enjoy every single one of them.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my Christmas gift for for @[mariyanett](http://mariyanett.tumblr.com/)! It was my first time writing about Hiiragi and I can only hope you enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed writing it! Happy holidays!

 

Seasons don’t have much meaning for most ayakashi – at least not for ayakashi like her. For several long years, she watched the snow falling and freezing, melting and vanishing and it didn’t change anything. It didn’t matter. But that was the ayakashi with a rope around her neck. Things are a little different for Hiiragi.

Hiiragi is Natori Shuichi’s shiki. Hiiragi lives in the human world – or, well, the exorcists’ world, which is more or less the same as the humans’ – and she is dutifully attentive now for things that, despite of being unimportant for ayakashi, are a great deal for humans.

Winter is one of them.

Hiiragi walks aimlessly through the frozen woods. She’s not worried about limits for once and that’s a feeling she has yet to get used to. She’s aware that Natori might call her anytime and she’ll be there in heartbeat, but that’s different. That’s something she wants to do. It makes her happy to pay back the human that saved her more than once. It is not, in any way, the same as being tied up to an empty place. She can go where she pleases – and where she wants to stay is by Natori’s side. She wants to protect him and see him happy.

Which leads her back to what’s important for humans.

Humans like social interaction; that much she knows. Natori has plenty of that, even though he doesn’t seem to enjoy most of it. He likes being with Natsume, even though there is trouble whenever the two of them meet. Hiiragi won’t admit it, but she likes Natsume too. And that’s why she’s happy when Natori announces he has a job near the place Natsume lives.

“I thought you wouldn’t accept jobs near Natsume’s area anymore,” Hiiragi had said upon hearing that.

“It’s not that kind of job,” Natori answered with a fond smile that seemed to be reserved solely for Natsume. “I’m working on a Christmas movie and we are going to shoot some scenes in there. Maybe we could pay Natsume a Christmas visit, huh?”

“Christmas?” Hiiragi repeated, curious.

It’s not like she’s never heard the word before. She just isn’t too sure about the meaning.

“Yeah, it’s a human celebration.”

“I understand. Are you going to celebrate?”

Natori hesitates for half a second. Hadn’t Hiiragi known him so well, she wouldn’t have noticed the dark something that flashed in Natori’s eyes before he put on his standard smile again.

“Not really. I never had time for Christmas.”

And the conversation had ended at that.

Now she might not know what the Christmas is, but she knows it’s a big thing. She’s heard humans gushing and making plans related to the Christmas for years. If Natori doesn’t have time for it, it seems pretty obvious to her that it’s something he wishes he had.

But what can she do to bring the Christmas to Natori?

“Ah!” A familiar voice calls. “It’s you! What are you doing here?”

Hiiragi stops walking and turns around to meet the horrendous looking thing that is Natsume’s dumb cat. She pulls a face he doesn’t see behind her mask. She might like Natsume in in spite of his shenanigans, but that fat cat is another story.

“Is Natori around?” Fat cat asks. “Go away! Whenever you two come by Natsume gives me a lot of trouble.”

“That’s my line,” Hiiragi replies, annoyed. “Not that is any of your business, but we’re not here for an exorcism. Natori has something to do related to his other job.”

“Is that so?” He seems to relax and starts licking his own paws.

Hiiragi can’t help but to think to herself that this cat worries about Natsume in the same way she worries about Natori.

It’s stupid, she thinks, for ayakashi to bond with humans like that. Humans that are so fragile and live such short lives. And yet…

“Oi, pig cat. Tell me what a Christmas is.”

“Who the hell are you calling pig? You ugly hag! This form is just temporary and it’s very cute! That’s not way of asking others to do anything for you!”

“Could it be that you don’t know, even though you’ve been living among humans for decades?”

“IDIOT! Of course I know what Christmas is!”

She waits. The fat cat clears his throat and sits up, making him look like one of those snowmen human children build – just two white balls on top of each other.

“You see, Christmas is a human mating ritual,” the cat says in his annoyingly smug voice. “Humans bring trees inside and decorate them with all sorts of shiny stuff and on Christmas day they choose a mate to go out with and eat cake together.”

Hiiragi stares at him. “That seems dumb.”

“Humans are dumb! Why do you want to know about this, anyway? And why don’t you ask Natori?”

Hiiragi ignores him. If it’s a mating ritual, why does Natori of all people have problems with it? She’s heard people saying several times that Natori is really handsome for human standards. She’s seen many female humans showing interest in him, so…

But then Natori always manages to feel lonely even when he’s surrounded by people. He only looks happy – genuinely happy – when he’s with the right people. Like when he visits that Takuma guy. Like when he sees Natsume. Maybe he hasn’t found the right mate yet and he feels frustrated about it.

“Oi,” fat cat growls. “Don’t ignore me, you pest.”

It’s not her place to find a mate for her master, so she can’t give him the Christmas in that way. But the cat mentioned something about decorated trees and cake. That much…

“You.” Hiiragi turns to the cat, putting her hands on her waist. “Help me decorate a tree for the Christmas.”

“What? You annoying brat! How dare you talk to me as if I am your servant? I should eat you right here and right now!”

She wants to taunt him and tell him she’d like to see him try, but… well, the sun is almost setting. She doesn’t have time to waste with this pig cat. He probably wouldn’t be much help with his short legs anyway.

With a huff, she turns on her heels and walks between the trees. She must find one small enough to carry, but big enough to be meaningful.

Hiiragi hears soft steps behind her on the snow. She turns only to see the stupid cat following her.

“What do you want?” She asks.

“It’s unlike you to care about humans’ matters. I’m curious.”

“Go take care of your own business!”

The damn cat ignores her. She decides to ignore him as well and resumes her search.

Finally, she notices a plant that will serve just fine to her purposes: a small tree, not much bigger than a bush, with dark green leaves that survived the chilling weather somehow. Hiiragi takes a good look at it, patting the snow away.

“Is that the one?”

Instead of answering his question, she asks her own, “What do I use to decorate it?”

“Like I know! Strong youkai like me don’t have to worry about this mundane stuff.”

Useless cat. With a sigh, Hiiragi starts looking around. Whatever she finds pretty will do, probably. The fat cat stays near the tree as she resumes her walk through the forest, fully aware that it’s not going to be easy to find something pretty in that environment covered in snow.

When she finally comes back carrying a bunch of pinecones in her arms, she finds the useless cat talking to two weak looking youkai. One of them only has one big eye in the middle of his face and the other has an ox head. Hiiragi remembers seeing Natsume talking to them once or twice, but she never learned their names.

“A decorated tree?” One-eyed youkai is saying. “Humans have the strangest rituals, let me tell you.”

“Strange, strange.” Ox face nods.

“Ah, hello.” One-eyed smiles at Hiiragi when he notices her there. “Are you preparing a gift for Natsume-sama?”

“Idiot!” Useless cat stomps his paw angrily. “Listen to others when they talk to you! I said this weirdo is preparing a useless gift for a friend of Natsume’s and I’m watching her being dumb!”

“A friend of Natsume-sama is our friend too!” One-eyed calls excitedly. “Let us help!”

“Let’s help, let’s help!” Ox face waves his arms.

Hiiragi stares. “I don’t mind help, but don’t get in the way. If you want to help, bring pretty, colorful things for the tree.”

“Pretty things! Pretty things for Natsume-sama’s friend!”

“Natsume-sama’s friend!”

Chanting and making a lot of unpleasant noise, the two of them rush through the trees as if nothing in the world would make them happier than spend time looking for pretty things in the woods. Hiiragi turns to the useless cat, waiting for an explanation.

“What?” The cat glares. “They asked me what I was doing here and I told them.”

She thinks to herself that those youkai must have a lot of free time on their hands and lets it go. If they do help, she will finish the work faster, which is good. Natori might call her at any moment, after all. She leaves the pinecones there and decides to look for a river, where there must be some pretty stones.

When she comes back, there is a small crowd of weak youkai carrying sparkly objects and screaming at a very grumpy fat cat. The scene is so overwhelming it takes her a while to fully understand what’s going on: apparently, one-eyed and ox face have been screaming around about bringing offerings to a friend of Natsume’s and a bunch of smaller ayakashi decided to join too. Some, apparently, have brought offerings to both Natori and Natsume.

Hiiragi wonders how they would react if they knew the person they’re bringing gifts to is an exorcist.

Then she watches the small creatures making noise and laughing as they drop shiny stones, golden rings long lost in the woods, weirdly colored leaves and all sorts of gizmos and pieces of human’s things around the small tree. All of them are there because they’ve heard Natsume’s name.

She can’t help but wonder: is there any of them that are doing this out of fear? She knows many smaller youkai seek the protection of the stronger. It wouldn’t be surprising if many of them wanted to let the powerful Natsume and his scary pig cat bodyguard know that they’re on the same side. However, she has the distinct feeling that it’s not like that. They seem to be having fun. They seem to be bringing gifts out of desire of showing off and pleasing the person they’re giving gifts to.

They seem to be doing it because they want to please Natsume.

Natsume has humans he cares about and humans that care about him. Natsume also has a bunch of youkais that would gladly fight for him anytime.

Will Natori ever have such a thing? Will Natori ever not be lonely?

“Madara-sama!” A pretty woman in a pink kimono appears from behind a tree carrying a large vase. “I heard we are bringing gifts for Natsume, for some reason! Is this that birthday thing humans do?”

“Idiot! Those are not for Natsume! Natsume isn’t even here!” Stupid cat growls for what must be the hundredth time.

“Eh? Then who are these for?”

“They’re for my master,” Hiiragi intervenes, mostly because if she hears that fat cat’s voice one more time, she’s going to lose her patience. “He’s Natsume’s friend. There seems to be a misunderstanding.”

“So that’s how it is, huh. Well, if it’s Natsume’s friend, then it must be a good person.” She puts down the vase. “Your master can have this. I’m Benio, by the way.”

“Aren’t you lucky?” Dumb cat grins smugly. “You can use that vase to carry your decorated tree.”

“Decorated tree?” Benio’s eyes light up. “Why are you decorating a tree? Can I help?”

“It seems to be a human tradition to decorate trees for a thing called Christmas,” Hiiragi explains.

“Well, then let’s get to work! Which tree are we supposed to decorate?”

Hiiragi digs up the tree and a big-headed youkai helps her to put if inside the vase. After that, Benio and the small youkais that stuck around – mostly to make noise and drink – start hanging feathers and colorful leaves, placing stones and vines around. Benio seems to know what she’s doing, for she orders them around and the results are always beautiful. Before Hiiragi notices, the tree is all colorful and nice to look at. That must be a Christmas tree.

“And it’s done!” Benio grins. “I’m sure Natsume’s friend is going to love it.”

Hiiragi hesitates, feeling embarrassed even though she knows what she’s supposed to do. If it wasn’t for Natsume’s friends, all she would have was a simple tree with a bunch of pinecones and dull stones. She takes a deep breath and then bows slightly.

“Thank you very much for all your help.”

Most of the other youkais pay her no mind. They’re busy laughing and comparing unused gifts and drinking sake. But some of them smile at her – Benio, one-eyed, ox face, the big headed one and a cold-looking kappa.

“Make sure to tell Natsume-dono we helped!” Someone yells and others agree by yelling louder.

Hiiragi picks up the Christmas tree and leaves them doing their thing. Whatever the hell that is. It isn’t until she’s several meters away from the party that she notices that the obnoxious cat is following her again.

“What do you want?” She hisses.

“Me? Nothing. I’m going home.”

Ignore him, ignore him.

And she manages to for several minutes from then on. The sounds of the youkai partying becomes muffled and soon disappears, leaving only the soft steps of the two of them on the snow and the mild wind as source of noise.

When there is finally nothing but a bridge separating them from the city, Hiiragi sees three young humans walking towards them. Two of them are familiar: Natsume and his black haired friend. The third one is a girl Hiiragi has never seen before. The three of them are talking and laughing carelessly, so absorbed in their own conversation that Natsume doesn’t notice them there until the girl spots the fat cat and screams in delight.

“Ah! Hiiragi!” Natsume frowns in worry. “Why are you here?”

“Is it one of your youkai friends?” The black haired boy asks.

(The girl had ran to the cat, ignoring completely her friends meanwhile. She hugs the cat tightly (ew) despite his protests.)

“Ahn…” Natsume stammers, looking worriedly at Hiiragi. “Yes. I’m going to just…”

“Check if there isn’t any trouble.” Black haired friend gives Natsume a pained smile. “Go ahead. I’m going to stop Taki from murdering Ponta while you’re talking to them.”

Natsume gives his friend a thankful nod before running towards Hiiragi.

“Hey,” he greets her. “Is Natori-san around? Is there any…”

“There is no trouble with youkais, if that’s what you’re worried about,” she says and watches as relief fills Natsume’s eyes. “Natori is working nearby on one of those movies and I tagged along, that’s all.”

“Is that so?” Natsume smiles. “Is good to know. I was worried because the ayakashi have been awfully agitated today.”

“Were they?”

“Yeah. A bunch of them came after me offering gifts, for some reason…? I don’t know where they heard they were supposed to bring me gifts.”

Hiiragi coughs softly. “The ayakashi here are weird.”

“Anyway what is that?” Natsume points at the vase Hiiragi is carrying.

“Isn’t it obvious? This is a decorated tree for the Christmas.”

“For… Christmas?”

“The Christmas, yes.” Hiiragi nods. “I made one for Natori, since he doesn’t have one.”

“Natori-san doesn’t have a Christmas tree?”

“No. He doesn’t have a mate either, so I thought he could have a tree at least.” She stares at the other two humans playing with the cat a few meters away from them. “Are those your mates, Natsume? Is it possible to mate with two humans at the same time?”

Natsume’s face goes completely red scarily fast.

“Wh- what the- no!” He yells. “Those are my _friends_! Where did you get that idea from?”

“Your fat cat said that the Christmas is a human mating ritual. That humans spend time with their mates during this time of the year.”

Natsume pinches the bridge of his nose and breathes in and out a couple of times, as if trying to calm down. Hiiragi notices that the other humans are staring worriedly, as if getting ready to intervene in case Natsume showed any other signs of distress.

“Sensei was wrong,” Natsume says finally, his face still very flushed. “Christmas is not a m-mating ritual…! I mean, lots of people go on dates on Christmas, but it’s not a rule! And today isn’t Christmas yet, so I’m just going over to my friend’s house to eat cake together.”

“Cake! I need one of those too!” Hiiragi suddenly remembers.

Natsume stares at her, now calmer and more curious.

“For Natori-san? Why do you want to give him a Christmas tree and cake?”

“Because he doesn’t have any of those and it seems important for humans,” she deadpans.

Natsume takes a couple of seconds to absorb what she’s just said. He bites his lower lip as if in profound contemplation of something she doesn’t understand. Hiiragi starts to get antsy.

“Don’t tell me your cat lied about the cake and the tree too, because if so I’m going to—”

“No, no, those are true! Humans do have trees and cakes during Christmas.” Natsume smiles kindly. “I was just thinking… Can you wait here for a bit, Hiiragi?”

She nods and watches as Natsume runs back to his friends. She would be able to hear what they are saying if she tried, but instead she just watches. Natsume seems to be explaining something, while the other humans nod. Natsume looks like he’s asking for something. Finally, the two of them smile at Natsume and nod a final time. Natsume grins at them and holds out his fist. The black haired boy bumps his own closed fist against Natsume’s – are they fighting? Hiiragi always thought balled fists meant violence for humans, but the two boys are still smiling – and the girl adjusts the fat cat in her arms. The two humans turn around and resume their walk from earlier while Natsume rushes back to Hiiragi.

“Hiiragi, I’m going to invite Natori-san to eat cake with us at Tanuma’s house. Do you think he’ll be okay with that?”

Hiiragi stares. “I thought you didn’t want your human friends getting involved with youkai business.”

“I don’t. But then we just have to ask Natori-san not to talk about exorcisms today, right?” Natsume smiles softly. “Natori-san is one of my human friends, too.” There is a pause and then he amends: “But that doesn’t mean you can’t join us too! Tanuma and Taki won’t be able to see you, but you can stay with sensei. And give your Christmas tree to Natori-san, too.”

“I… I would like that. Not staying with your dumb cat, I mean. I’ve had enough of him. But I want you to celebrate Christmas with Natori.”

“Of course! Though it isn’t Christmas yet… But well. I never celebrated Christmas before I moved in with the Fujiwaras, so I think I understand how Natori-san feels. Can you take me where he is, Hiiragi? We can pick him up after his work is done.”

She nods and the two of them start walking. She notices how Natsume is taller now than the first time they met. And how he looks less strained and more peaceful. More confident, even. Not confident like Natori, a different kind of confident. A happier one.

What does he mean when he says he understands Natori? Was he once just as lonely? Rejected by family and friendless during a time where humans usually meet and celebrate together?

Hiiragi likes Natsume, even though she won’t admit it out loud. She likes him because Natori is happy when he’s around Natsume. She likes that Natsume seems happier now, too. And she hopes he’ll share some of that happiness with Natori, somehow.

Judging by what she’s seen so far… She’s sure he will.


End file.
